Thursday, April 28, 2016

12:01 PM

In today's Ryan Rundown: House Speaker Paul Ryan reaches out to millennials at Georgetown University, telling students the GOP wants America to be "open, diverse, dynamic," and that they should "look at the policies, not the person so much" as they vote for president.News/features

10:47 AM

The Netflix series “Making a Murderer” has captured the attention of millions of people. However, I know few individuals who would want to start that 10-episode series, or any series, on episode number four. Knowing how it all begins and understanding the basic framework is crucial.

The same methods are true on Capitol Hill. After surveying of dozens of Hill staff, a whopping 88 percent said that for a first meeting with any group, they would prefer the group assumes the congressional office know nothing about the topic at hand. So, start at the very beginning.

While a group’s issue may be the most important thing in the world from its perspective, and it may even be atop the news, it may also be unfamiliar to a busy staff person trying to juggle a plethora of policy issues.

As one staff person told me, “They should start the meeting at the 30,000 ft level ... Many staffers fake that they understand an issue because they don't want to look stupid ... which makes it tough for the staffer to brief their boss.”

If the staff person is unable to effectively brief the boss, despite the group’s best use of intricate details, fancy charts, and interactive graphs, the group’s message will be lost.

Even when asked, “Are you familiar with this issue,” most staff will say yes, even if the answer is no.

More annoying to many staff is being asked, “What do you know about this issue?”

With all that being said, groups need to work with staff. Do not make the meeting awkward, embarrassing, or unhelpful. Allow the staffers to walk before asking them to run.

Some of the more effective ways of accomplishing this is to provide at that initial meeting a one-page summary or a 101 type overview that includes the fundamentals. Diligently avoid the industry jargon.

Make an effort to eliminate the use of acronyms, and if someone in the group does, clarify what it means. Stay out of the weeds. If a group is meeting to discuss legislation, provide the bill name AND bill number, and sponsors upfront.

These are some simple techniques that will allow a group to more clearly convey its message. Plus, staff members are conscientious of time. If they know more about the issue, they will indicate such and encourage the group to move on and go deeper into the weeds.

Finally, as a group prepares for that first meeting, keep in mind some words of wisdom from Albert Einstein, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

-- Riemann is president of 1492 Communications, a consulting firm. She can be reached at: wendy@1492communications.com.

10:17 AM

This is an excerpt from Nicole Duran's DC Wrap column. Sign up for the full column by emailing staff@wispolitics.com.

Quickly countering the other side’s argument is nothing new in politics but House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office has cut the response time down to zero.

Increasingly during White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s daily briefings, the Janesville Republican’s leadership office counters Earnest in real time with emails, statements and tweets. The response became so rapid that during the April 7 briefing the two sides were effectively debating each other with the White House press corps serving as intermediary.

At issue is congressional Republicans’ claim that the Obama administration is not answering their questions or providing enough details about how it would spend the $1.89 billion it is seeking to combat the Zika virus.

Earnest denied the charge and ticked off the number of times top-ranking officials headed to Capitol Hill to answer lawmakers’ questions.

Initially Earnest said he wasn’t sure if those particular letters received responses: "I can't speak to the individual letters," he said, before offering to share the administration’s appropriation request that Republicans say is insufficiently specific.

"Maybe we can engage in a little information exchange," Earnest told reporters. "I'm happy to give you a copy of our legislation if you want to pass that on to members of Congress and get them to act on it."

The White House communications office then went into its own rapid response mode and quickly researched the letters’ fate while Earnest fielded questions on different topics. When Earnest was pressed again on the letters Andres shared, he was ready.

"I am recently informed that the letters that the speaker's office apparently distributed to all of you were responded to by the Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan on April 6," Earnest said. "Rather than writing letters, we would appreciate Republicans actually doing their job and passing legislation that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with fighting Zika."

Andres wasn’t finished. He tweeted to Earnest that Donovan’s letter wasn’t up to snuff, calling it a rehash of a previous administration blog post.

Read the full column here, with news on a VA bill named after a Tomah veteran and a fight between House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Obama administration on Puerto Rico.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

10:23 AM

House Speaker Paul Ryan presses for an overhaul of the IRS, the speaker joins President Obama in opposition to a 9/11 bill that would let victims' families sue Saudi Arabia, and he tells Steven Colbert "no," "nein," "nyet" to accepting the GOP nomination in today's Ryan Rundown.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

11:32 AM

In today's Ryan Rundown: House Speaker Paul Ryan's fundraising tops $17 million in the first quarter of this year, Ryan faces backlash over financial assistance for Puerto Rico, and more on Ryan ruling out accepting the GOP nomination.

11:04 AM

Out of all the people who serve in a government office, the assistants are some of the most cherished. If a lobbyist undervalues them because they answer the phone, that office visitor is woefully mistaken.

An executive assistant is the essential lifeline for any leader.

Assistants are confidantes whom principals rely on for nearly everything. A lobbyist may have gone to school with the leader, donates to a leader's campaign, or even regularly socializes with the leader for a drink at happy hour. But the assistant knows the leader’s daily habits, home schedule, and mood that day. The assistant plays a crucial role in making a leader’s day run smoother by putting out fires and keeping to the schedule so the leader can make a kid's game. Sometimes the assistant becomes an essential sounding board.

As one leader told me, “You can take a shot at me, and I’ll get over it. But don’t EVER take a shot at my assistant, or I will not let you back into the office.”

Even on an assistant’s worst day, that person knows more about the leader and the inner-workings of the office than anyone outside the office. Yet, as a trusted and loyal individual, that person also knows how to keep quiet about confidential information.

Lobbyists are naive if they don't realize that assistants hold a position of great power in an office and should be treated as such.

As gatekeepers, they can facilitate a request, or frustrate it. They can prevent a lobbyist from ever getting a meeting. An assistant can also clue a lobbyist into the leader’s day and provide an avenue for the right approach. And the truly outstanding assistant finds ways to add time to a leader’s day so productivity can be maximized.

In a previous position, where I had a larger staff, whenever I interviewed a new job candidate, I intentionally made the person wait for a few minutes at the front desk so the receptionist could make small talk with the job candidate. In my view, the interview started with the job candidate’s arrival at the office, Later, I would ask the receptionist for her impressions of the candidate, and how polite, professional, and friendly the candidate was to her. I trusted her. Regardless of what the job candidates said or did not say in my office, or how stellar of a resume they had, if they weren't kind to a fellow human being, or if they snubbed the receptionist, they would not be hired by me.

We had a busy office with fast, and sometimes unanticipated deadlines, which required serious team work. I only wanted staff with a server’s heart and a giver’s attitude. In my experience, I found that those with airs during an interview were unlikely to willingly roll up their sleeves when necessary and help their co-workers with something they might find menial or mundane. The approach may not work for everyone, but it did for that office – which was a talented and successful team.

Assistants matter. Anyone not respecting that in a good office probably will not.

-- Riemann is president of 1492 Communications, a consulting firm. She can be reached at: wendy@1492communications.com.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

2:45 PM

House Speaker Paul Ryan today sought to put to rest any more speculation he could become the GOP nominee for president.

Speculation has ramped up the Janesville Republican could be tapped as the party nominee if none of the current candidates collects the delegates needed to win the nomination outright. But Ryan told a Washington, D.C., news conference there is too much work to do in the House to allow the speculation to continue.

"Let me clear," Ryan said. "I do not want, nor will I accept the nomination of our party."

Ryan also had a message for party delegates, who will select the nominee. If no candidate has a majority of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot, they should choose someone who is already in the race for the nominee.

Friday, April 1, 2016

3:58 PM

In this week's Ryan Rundown: House Speaker Paul Ryan continues to dodge speculation that he could win his party's presidential nomination at a contested convention, and the Janesville Republican is facing a primary race with a Delavan businessman critical of his performance in Congress.

Also, the presidential candidates arrive in Ryan's hometown to stump ahead of the April 5 primary, and some target the speaker with campaign commentary.
News/feature